Study quantifies patient preferences for different SSc-ILD treatment

Patients with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) showed a willingness to make trade-offs when it came to treatment preferences, according to the first study to quantify treatment preferences.

Overall, 231 patients with SSc-ILD were asked to repeatedly pick between 2 alternatives characterized by varying severity levels of the following attributes:

-Mode of administration
-Shortness of breath
-Skin tightness
-Cough
-Tiredness
-Risk of gastrointestinal AEs (GI-AEs)
-Risk of serious and non-serious infections

The most preferred attributes were twice-daily oral treatments and 6-12-monthly infusions. Choices were most often influenced by the risk of GI-AEs or infections. Patients felt that improvements in respiratory symptoms were more important than in skin tightness.

“Concerning trade-offs, patients accepted different levels of increase in GI-AE risk: +21% if it reduced the infusions’ frequency; +15% if changing to an oral treatment; up to + 37% if it improved breathlessness; and up to + 36% if it reduced the risk of infections,” the authors wrote.

Reference
Bruni C, Heidenreich S, Duenas A, et al. Patient preferences for the treatment of systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease: a discrete choice experiment. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2022;keac126. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keac126. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35238334.